1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of bowling lane maintenance machines for cleaning and oiling bowling lane surfaces. More particularly, the preferred machine is operable at a plurality of selectable speeds in order to apply a desired lane dressing pattern and to reduce maintenance time requirements. The preferred machine also maintains a selected level in the lane dressing reservoir and stops the vacuum pump for a selected time in order to reduce foaming in the spent cleaning liquid tank.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art, one type of bowling lane maintenance machine is electrically powered for traversing a bowling lane forwardly toward the pins and rearwardly toward the foul line. While traversing a lane, such a machine is operable for cleaning the surface of the lane using a detergent or solvent during the forward pass, and operable for applying lane dressing during the forward and rearward passes.
One of the prior art problems has been the lack of control over the application of lane dressing to achieve the desired pattern both in transverse profile and linearly. More particularly, prior art maintenance machines have had difficulty in applying enough lane dressing in a uniform manner. In such machines, wicks immersed in a lane dressing reservoir engage a transfer roller which in turn transfers lane dressing to an applicator roller in direct contact with the lane. In order to achieve higher application rates, one prior art solution has been to increase the speed of the transfer roller or applicator roller. This has resulted in a lack of uniformity of the lane dressing applied to the lane.
Another problem with the prior art has been the lack of uniform transfer of lane dressing through the wicks that engage the transfer rolling. As the wicks absorb lane dressing from the reservoir, the liquid level falls which reduces the transfer rate because less of the wick is immersed. It has been found that even small changes in the liquid level can adversely affect the uniformity of application to the bowling lane.
Prior art maintenance machines have also presented a problem in that they require frequent emptying of the tank that holds spent cleaning solution. A vacuum pump is used to create a partial vacuum into the tank which is coupled with a liquid removal assembly in contact with the lane. The partial vacuum induces an airflow in the removal assembly much like a vacuum cleaner to remove spent cleaning liquid from the lane. The airflow through the tank and the partial vacuum therein causes the spent cleaning solution to foam thereby reducing the effective holding capacity of the tank. The need to empty the tank frequently slows the process for cleaning all of the lanes in a bowling center, which can be a particular problem during tournaments.
Finally, prior art machines have not been able to maintain uniform application of lane dressing at very low levels. When a wick engages the transfer roller, the application of lane dressing exceeds the required low level, and when the wick disengages, the applicator roller rapidly depletes resulting in application below the desired level.